Last-Mile Delivery
Last-mile delivery is the final leg to the door, where density collapses and delivery cost concentrates.
What last-mile delivery is
Last-mile delivery is the final leg of the journey: the trip from the local depot to the customer’s door, the shortest distance in the chain and, notoriously, the segment where the cost concentrates.
Why the last mile matters
Linehaul moves pallets in bulk; the last mile moves one package to one address, and that loss of density is why the final leg eats an outsized share of total delivery cost. It’s also the only leg the customer ever sees: the promise made at checkout settles on a doorstep, so last-mile performance is simultaneously the store’s biggest logistics cost lever and its most visible trust surface.
The last-mile options stores mix
- National carriers: reach everywhere, priced for it
- Regional carriers: cheaper and often faster inside their footprint, worth rate-shopping
- Pickup points and lockers: density restored by letting customers come partway
- Same-day networks: dark stores and courier fleets where speed is the product
Frequently asked questions
Why is the last mile the expensive part?
Density economics: a truck between cities amortizes across thousands of parcels, while a van on a residential loop pays per stop, with failed deliveries, redelivery, and returns pickups compounding the bill. Anything that raises stops-per-mile, batching, lockers, delivery-day consolidation, attacks the cost at its root.
How do smaller stores improve last-mile cost and speed?
Borrowed density: 3PLs whose volume earns better carrier rates, multi-node inventory that shortens the leg, regional-carrier rate shopping, and pickup options offered at checkout. The lever is placing inventory and choosing carriers deliberately, not running vans.